Car Dork

Figured I'd formally introduce myself, the car, and ask a couple questions!I'm Brandon. I'm 33 years old, have a wife and teenage daughter, live in New Albany (Columbus suburb), and own a car detailing business which is mobile but primarily work out of our shop in Blacklick. After living in the same general neighborhood for my whole life, I moved from the Los Angeles area about 2 years ago and have family routes in Columbus.
I have been heavily involved in the European car enthusiast community for almost 15 years and have hosted Wuste European Car Festival, one of the West Coast's largest European car events, for the past 11 years in Las Vegas. I still have my 2013 Golf R which is used yearly as a promotional car for the event and is currently in a custom Bilstein livery 3M wrap.
To summarize the voyage: 1 Uber ride to the airport, 2 planes -> Philadelphia, 2 trains to Philly suburb (Norristown, PA), met the seller at the train station.

I drove the car with seller in the passenger seat a few miles away to a PA title office, got the title notarized, and hit the road.

Here is the car in the lot:



Overall, pleased with the condition of the vehicle. It's 88k miles and looks more like 50k but definitely doesn't look like 8k miles. Some minor stuff I'll take care of in due time: small-ish front bumper scuff, PDR-able (hopefully) dent on the passenger quarter panel, small cuts in the armrest, a couple worn buttons on the climate control system and that's about it. I'll start doing some detail work on it this week and I'm sure I'll be happy with the paint once it's been corrected, coated, and headlights restored.

Now on to my voyage home...

Jamie from Orchid Euro was about 30 minutes down the highway and fortunately, easily accessible from my return route so I stopped by and we got to chat for an hour or so. I always enjoy shooting the **** with him and it was good to catch up. In the background of the picture, you'll see the infamous harlequin that went cross country recently:



On the way back to the highway from Jamie's were some UNBELIEVABLE ROADS! I got to have a ton of fun in my new midengine Porsche and had several "whoa, this is really my car" moments.





As soon as I got on the highway, it was basically a straight-shot home... fueled by caffeine and a lot less fuel than I would've believed. I averaged 29.4MPG!



Impressions: It's just silly how "inexpensive" these cars are. I can't believe I'm in a sub-100k mile 2005 Boxster for what a decent Miata costs. I'm also shocked at how much of a reaction people give a 13 year old, base, black on black Boxster... I've gotten at least a few "nice car" comments from people on the road each time I've taken it out.

It's a beautiful car to drive, PLENTY of power for my needs, geared very nicely, and the heated seats make the cool evenings so enjoyable. I got to take my daughter to ice-cream last night with the top down and 80s music on "way too loud" and it's a memory that makes the cost of admission seem like peanuts.

I don't know if I'll ever be able to get rid of this thing... I love it.

Looking for: wheels for the car. 18 or 19" preferably. I'm in Columbus, OH!

Bonus... my Golf R.

Suicide Jockey

Welcome! Great story and thanks for sharing. Big congrats on the car. I had an '05 987 that gave me zero trouble and nothing but smiles. Hope your experience is similar. Enjoy!

Dave in Chicago

Great find and great story. Congrats!

I had a similar experience flying to Dallas and then spending the next 900 miles discovering the car I bought. It is very cool to own a cab that was designed to be a cab from the ground up. SOOOO well thought out.

I'm very partial to the '05 design too. Just the right blend of elements for me and my needs.

Enjoy!

Dave in Chicago
'05 987S
'92 968 SP3
'88 944 NA

Archimedes

Car looks very nice, especially for a 90k mile East Coast car. Love the 987s.

Jim137a

Great story - reminds me of an older movie......

On a more serious note good luck and enjoy your new car.

Also, iI'd be interested on your thoughts on your Golf R, I'm starting to consider one as my daily driver.

Car Dork

I want a ****ing car. Right. ****ing. Now. lol!

Which generation R are you thinking of?

Reborn996

Hi Brandon! Welcome to the Porsche family. I was at Wuste a few years ago with my Black air bagged Touareg TDI, was a fun time. 👌

Jim137a

Thinking of a mark 7, model year 2017 or 2018. I've been looking casually but there's not many in my area. The one dealer that did have inventory a few months ago was pretty rude - told me no test drives, automatic $2k mark up over sticker and gave me an attitude when I asked him if he could pull the car out so I could look at it. So after that experience I put it on the back burner.

My Porsche dealer also has a VW Dealership and my Porsche sales guy made a few calls for me so when they get a Type R in stock they'll call me and let me check out the car properly.

My current DD is a 2016 Subaru CrossTrek and I kind of hate it especially after stepping out of my CGTS. It's been reliable, economical, good in the snow, great gas mileage and is practical = BORING.

Basically I was looking for your input on the Type R regarding handling, performance and reliability.

Thanks